Staring contest
by HouseMartius
Summary: "In the classroom opposite hers, a girl had arrived and taken her seat next to the window, fished her material out of her bag, placed everything neatly on the table in front of her, and when she had been ready for the lesson to start, she'd turned her head and settled her eyes on Annabeth."


**disclaimer:** characters belong to Rick Riordan

i bring u even more femslash this weekend! some reynabeth to brighten up your day. inspired by a post from radycat on tumblr: "reynabeth au where they have class in rooms opposite each other overlooking a courtyard and since they both have window seats love blossoms as they glare and make the most pompous faces at each other every TTH 1:30pm-3:00pm for 5 months and a half months." enjoy!

(this is a **one-shot**)

* * *

Annabeth Chase was on a mission. A mission she had started nearly six months ago. And she couldn't believe it was still not completed. It was a distraction, one she most certainly did not need for she had bigger things to focus on, like her studies, which had recently been neglected from her part. And Annabeth could not allow this to happen.

She finished her meal early, like she always did, and made her way towards her first afternoon class. As she walked through the nearly empty corridors, she took in the new and much too colourful decorations that seemed to be just about anywhere she looked at: Valentine's Day had completely taken over the campus and Annabeth was officially disgusted. She looked on as a group of giggling girls taped pink and red hearts to whatever bare parts of the walls they could find and exclaimed to each other about how "cute" and "romantic" and "improved" the place was thanks to the festivity.

Annabeth had to fight back the mighty urge to stop in her tracks and make a nasty remark at how ridiculous these girls were acting and how "improved" was definitely _not_ the right adjective to describe this gross environment, but before she could even open her mouth to say anything, her thoughts were taken over by the fact that it was February already. Huh... She'd barely been aware of this fact, surprisingly enough. Had so much time passed since she'd first started attending college? Well, she had to admit she was actually having a good time and the difficulty level was not as high and demanding as she'd first expected. She had always been a great student however, and her constant thirst for knowledge helped her immensely, which was why she never complained about the amount of homework or the almost overwhelming number of things she'd learned in such a short period of time. Her grades were still great for someone with dyslexia, always had been really. She'd met some awesome people too and didn't spend a lot of time on her own, unlike she'd first predicted.

The blonde was so caught up in her sudden revelations, she had not noticed she had indeed stopped in the middle of the hallway and had been intently staring at the girls who kept on working on their 'we will make this the cheesiest, most disgusting Valentine's Day ever' project. Before they became aware of her watching them though, Annabeth left. She still had a class to attend to.

When she got there, the room was completely unoccupied, which was not a surprise since Annabeth had arrived ten minutes early. She took her seat in her favourite (and very much claimed) spot, the one that had the best view to the courtyard that was the center of the main campus. It was not very large but Annabeth had always enjoyed looking at how everything about it was perfectly placed in order to make the setting as comfortable as possible, and she liked analyzing every detail she saw, even if she did it almost on a daily basis: the white stone benches that offered a cozy shade from the only two small trees that embellished the green area, the white marble statues that gave the final touch it needed to have that relaxing yet authorative, in a manner, vibe. Piper, one of the people she'd met earlier in the school year, had once commented how the whole ordeal reminded her of Hogwarts and how that was probably why so many students chose that particular spot to hang out during class breaks.

Annabeth had never been a big fan of the Harry Potter series (Piper nagged her plenty about that though) but she'd googled some pictures of the castle's set and she had to admit the resemblance was uncanny.

She started taking out her books and other materials, opening her notebook to read what she'd written during the previous class, when something from across the courtyard caught her attention.

In the classroom opposite hers, a girl had arrived and taken her seat next to the window, fished her material out of her bag, placed everything neatly on the table in front of her, and when she had been ready for the lesson to start, she'd turned her head and settled her eyes on Annabeth.

Ah, she'd almost forgotten about this, what with her mind being all over the place with random thoughts: her mission.

When she'd first picked this particular place to sit at during class, Annabeth had done so for architecture related purposes, yes. What she hadn't been aware of though, was that she also had quite the view to the class taking place all the way across the courtyard.

The blonde couldn't exactly remember how the whole thing had started. She'd been listening to her teacher talk about the course and had been introducing it to his students, but for some reason, boredom most likely, found herself looking out the window, admiring the structure of the place. Her eyes ended up landing on the figure of a girl and the rest gets a bit foggy from there. All Annabeth knew was they'd spent quite a big part of the lesson stealing glances at each other, and when she'd finally gotten up to leave the room, she'd been confused: what had happened? Was that even normal? Did people really spend that much time looking at each other, even if they were absolute strangers?

Later that day, when she opened her notebook to see what she'd taken down from that lecture, she was almost shocked to find a blank page. She'd even blinked several times to make sure her eyes were not tricking her, but there was no mistaking it: she'd completely zoned out. And that was when Annabeth promised herself this would not happen again.

The second time she set foot in that classroom, she put all her strenght into paying attention to the professor's words and when it was over, she'd filled three whole pages with notes.

And this went on for about two weeks. Annabeth's determination never faultered and her strange "neighbour" was barely in her thoughts anymore.

But it all went to hell during one particularly boring lesson, when Annabeth, realizing she was about to fall asleep, and to keep that from happening decided to have her mind focus on something else instead, made the mistake of turning her head towards the outdoor scenery. Her gaze instantly fell on the girl in the opposite classroom, and before Annabeth could mentally slap herself for hew own stupidity, the girl's eyes had landed on her.

Annabeth was about to turn her head towards the front of her own classroom when something took her by surprise: the girl was frowning at her. And she looked downright pissed off.

The blonde tried to recall if she'd ever done something to insult her, besides ignoring her for weeks (because, let's be real, how can you offend someone when you don't even look at them in the first place?), and that's when the girl's expression changed drastically: she was smirking at her. Annabeth didn't even have time to react or think however; the girl lifted an eyebrow at her and shifted in her chair, sitting perfectly straight, eyes on her own teacher.

That had ticked Annabeth off. In the wrong way.

From then on, the two girls had been continuously competing with each other. It had started pretty softly: the usual frowns from Reyna's part (after venting her frustrations about her annoying "neighbour" to Piper, another mistake she'd soon regret, and after some weird looks and plenty of smirking from the brunette that suggested things the blonde refused to believe were true, Annabeth's friend had managed to find out what her name was for her), icy glares, although uneffective, from Annabeth and so on.

About two months later, things took a more aggressive turn. Both girls' professors had decided to have their students take suprise tests to see how well, or not, they were keeping up. Whenever one of the two women had their exam handed back to them, they'd discreetly put them against the window so the other one could see their score. And since both Annabeth and Reyna were dedicated and talented students, the competition was pretty even. But the look of utter victory on the face of the girl holding the paper never failed to piss off the one staring at it nonetheless.

Soon after that, Christmas had arrived and with it the end of the semester, and Annabeth concentrated on her finals; she didn't see Reyna for a while.

Studying late at night during one particularly cold December day, Annabeth found herself putting down her pencil and closing her eyes and picturing Reyna's face. She wasn't sure if she knew her features that well (there was an entire courtyard separating the two of them after all, and her eyesight, good as it might be, had its limits); she did know, however, that Reyna had dark hair and chose to wear it in a neat braid most of the time, and that her skin, also dark, though not as much as her hair, looked soft even from that far a distance. And her eyes were always so intense... Without even realizing it, Annabeth had soon fallen asleep.

One day, during a much needed break from all the studying, when she was at a café spending the afternoon with Piper, she'd made the fatal mistake (seriously, when would she learn?) to tell her friend that she kind of missed her "child like shenanigans", as Piper liked to call them, with Reyna.

Piper had only smirked at that. "Miss the 'shenanigans' or the person you like to play them with?"

Annabeth had all but snapped after hearing that, saying that having this rivalry with Reyna drived her into focusing on her studies more so she'd come out as the victor of the two in the end.

"Mm-hm...", Piper had sarcastically hummed, taking a sip of her hot chocolate, eyes never leaving Annabeth's face.

The blonde held her gaze, determined to prove her point, but Piper had that annoying smirk all over her face, the one she always wore when she saw through other people; that was one of Piper's many gifts, Annabeth had come to learn: when it came to feelings, everyone was basically transparent to the brunette.

"So when are you going to ask her out?", Piper had asked after a short silence.

Annabeth's only response was to cross her arms and start glaring at her own beverage.

"I see...", Piper set down her drink on the round wooden table and crossed her legs under it. "If there's anything I can help you with, just ask, okay?"

Feeling her cheeks getting warmer, Annabeth nodded, still refusing to look at Piper.

A few moments passed without any of them saying another word, until the blonde girl, still not taking her eyes from the cup in front of her, silently murmured: "I don't think she'd even accept to go out with me if I asked her though..."

Piper had smiled at that. "Things take unexpected turns, Annabeth."

But when she got back to school for the second semester, things had pretty much remained the same: both girls took every opportunity they got to taunt and provoke each other, even if lately Annabeth had been pondering over her feelings for Reyna on a regular basis and wanted to change their relationship, if what they had could even be called that.

And that's where she currently was. Staring at Reyna, as usual, with her staring back at the blonde.

Her teacher hadn't arrived yet but Annabeth was already done with this lecture. She didn't want to listen to what he had to say today. She wanted to walk over to Reyna's classroom and talk to her properly for the first time. But she couldn't.

Frustrated, she let her head softly fall on the table and took a deep breathe to calm herself.

This was ridiculous. The most repulsive celebration ever created was just around the corner and Annabeth didn't know how to take advantage of the situation. She'd imagined so many scenarios in her head it was almost pathetic: how she'd woo Reyna and finally get her to agree to go on a date with the blonde; how they'd talk for hours on end and find out how much in common they have; and finally, when saying goodbye to each other, Annabeth would slowly lean in, invading Reyna's personal space, and her lips would delicately touch hers, and they'd both lose themselves in their first kiss.

But Annabeth only thought like a romantic, much to her astonishment (Piper's influence, no doubt), she didn't act like one.

Her teacher finally entered the now full classroom and, throwing a quick glance in Reyna's direction, the blonde saw her own lesson had already started as well.

Annabeth tried her best to take in every word her teacher was saying, but it was proving to be an herculean task: Reyna kept invading her thoughts no matter how hard she tried to keep the dark haired girl out of them.

The blonde clenched her teeth: this had to stop. So she closed her eyes and tried to think of a solution.

If she couldn't fix her problem using her normal methods, she'd have to come up with another way to do so. And that's when she ultimately amazed herself. Her mind had just produced the single, most disturbing thought she could ever recall: what would Piper do?

Annabeth gazed at the wall in front of her. It was pretty simple, actually: Piper would be the complete opposite of her. She'd give zero cares. And that's exactly what the blonde would do.

Grabbing her black pen, Annabeth began to work. She opened her notebook in a random blank page and started writing her message. One minute later, she had finished and, inhaling deeply to muster up some courage, she turned her head towards Reyna and waited until she looked back.

When she did, the blonde held her notebook against the cold window and anxiously waited for Reyna's reaction.

In the classroom across the courtyard, Reyna's eyes widened when she finished reading those black inked words. It took her a few seconds but she leaned over her own table and Annabeth assumed the dark haired girl was writing her answer for the blonde to read.

Not wanting to get caught by the teacher, Annabeth quickly retrieved her notebook and looked at what she'd written.

'Coffee after this?'

She was blushing and her hands were slightly shaking as she waited for Reyna's response. She only hoped it wouldn't hurt too much if it was negative or that the feeling of utter humiliation that was likely to ensue wouldn't last for too long. Annabeth watched nervously as Reyna put down her marker and turned her attention to the blonde once more. This was it.

When words appeared in the distance for her to read, Annabeth could only gape in awe.

'About time u asked idiot'

From across the open green area, Reyna was smiling lovingly at her.

* * *

i had most of this written down when my pc decided to die on me. and then it was i who wanted to die.

ah well, its finally done though. thank god i decided to continue this one, i had a great time writing it, in spite of the technical difficulties *glares at pc*

r&amp;r pls!


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